The Residence Card (ARC) and the 90-day deadline

3 min read

Foreign residents at the Seoul Global Center Welcoming Week, where settlement paperwork help is offered

If you are staying in Korea longer than 90 days, you must register with immigration and get a Residence Card. Most people still call it the ARC — the Alien Registration Card — which was its name until the Ministry of Justice renamed it in 2021. The two words mean the same document.

The deadline counts from your entry stamp

You have 90 days from the date you entered the country. Not from the day you signed your lease, not from the day you started work, not from the day your visa was issued. Open your passport, find the entry stamp, and count from there.

A 90-day timeline: you land on day zero, book an immigration appointment in the first weeks, and must be registered by day 90 Day 0 You land — entry stamp Weeks 1–4 Book the appointment Day 90 Registered by now Appointment slots at busy offices are often 2–4 weeks out — booking on day 85 can land you past the deadline.
The clock starts at the entry stamp, not at your lease or your first day of work.

Missing it is treated as an immigration violation and can bring a fine and trouble at your next visa renewal — a bad trade for paperwork that takes one morning.

Book your immigration appointment early. Slots at busy offices are often gone two to four weeks ahead, so an appointment booked on day 85 may land after your deadline. Book in your first weeks, not your last.

What to bring

  • Your passport and a copy of the photo page
  • The application form, available at the office and online
  • One passport photo (3.5 × 4.5 cm), taken recently
  • The fee — budget around 30,000 won, and bring cash
  • Proof of your address: a lease, a dormitory certificate, or a letter from whoever you live with
  • Proof of your purpose: an employment contract, a certificate of enrolment, or your marriage documents, depending on your visa

Some visa types need more — a health check, a criminal background check, a company registration copy. Check what applies to your specific visa before you go rather than discovering it at the counter.

Report your address separately

If you move house after registering, you must report the new address within 14 days. This one catches people constantly, because moving in Korea is otherwise so quick.

You can do it at an immigration office or, more easily, at your local district office (주민센터) when you register your move. It costs nothing. Skipping it can bring a fine and, more practically, means official post goes to your old address — including things you cannot afford to miss.

What the card unlocks

Once it arrives, the card is the key to ordinary life:

  • Banking — a proper account rather than a tourist workaround
  • A phone contract in your own name
  • National Health Insurance, which becomes mandatory for most residents
  • Most delivery, payment and booking apps, which verify identity against it
  • Getting paid — employers need your registration number to run payroll and withhold tax correctly

That last point is why the card matters for anyone hoping to earn here, including through short campaigns and paid events. Without a registration number there is no legal way for anyone to pay you and account for it.

The number is sensitive

Your registration number identifies you the way a resident registration number identifies a Korean citizen. Treat it accordingly.

Give it to employers, banks, insurers and government offices. Be sceptical of anyone else who asks — particularly over chat, and particularly alongside a photo of the card itself. A card image plus the number is enough for someone to attempt identity fraud in your name.

Useful contacts

  • Hi Korea (hikorea.go.kr) — appointments, forms and the current document list for each visa type
  • 1345 — the immigration contact centre, with interpretation in around twenty languages
  • Your local immigration office — requirements vary slightly by office, and theirs is the answer that counts

Checked in August 2026. Immigration requirements change and differ by visa type and by office. Confirm current rules on Hi Korea or by calling 1345 before you rely on anything here.

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